


how could i ever love someone else

by bloo_writer



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Unrequited Love, but they're brief, how else do I tag this, its short, like Wallys life span, some others make appearances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29057631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloo_writer/pseuds/bloo_writer
Summary: Dick thought there were only a few certainties in his life. Alfred had the best cookies. He would never be like Batman. He was the best acrobat. And he had an ever growing crush on his best friend Wally West.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Wally West
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	how could i ever love someone else

“Brittany, this is my best friend Dick!” Wally threw his arms over Dick trying to be as annoying as possible.

“Your friend is RICHARD GRAYSON?” She stood there awestruck.

“ _ Best _ friend and please don’t call me Richard,” Dick playfully brushed off Wally’s hand rolling his eyes.

“Ok Rick right?” She went to shake his hand and shined one of those perfect gala smiles. The teen just knew he was going to hate her.

  
  
  


\---

Ok so Dick didn’t hate her, he just had a mild disliking of Wally’s girlfriend. Whenever he heard her laugh or saw a picture of her on instagram or saw that polaroid of her in Wally’s room. Don’t forget whenever Wally gushed about her on the phone. So only a mild dislike. That is until he heard a knock on the door and in came Wally, with red puffy eyes and tears streaming down his face. 

“I’ll uh get some of Alfred’s cookies,” After a moment Dick comes back upstairs handing Wally a plate full of the cookies. “So what happened kid flash troubles?”

“Girlfriend troubles,” Wally grumbled as he went to take a bite of the cookie.

“Oh,” Dick held back a witty remark. He wished he could say it but he knew Wally’s feelings came first. “I thought things were going well? What uh… what happened?”

Wally gulped down the last of his cookie and sprawled onto Dick’s bed. “She wanted to go watch some movie then go to this fancy restaurant but I just wanted to hang out at my house with her and I don’t even know.” Wally closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “We started arguing about small things and it just spiraled from there.”

“Oh,” Dick repeated. “Have you talked to her since?”

“Ugh no and we have history together tomorrow.”

“How about you text her and I’ll help you through this?” Dick offered.

Wally shot up his eyes filled with hope, “Really?”

“Yeah I mean I’ve seen Babs do this so,” Dick shrugged. It worked. After half an hour it finally worked and when Wally left Dick thought it was his turn to cry. 

“Stupid crushes,” He grumbled as he ate his cookie. 

“While I agree with the sentiment please do not chew with your mouth open,” Alfred patted his back sympathetically.

After swallowing his food, Dick repeated himself. “Stupid crushes,” This time tears escaped from his eyes. 

And that’s how it was for months. They would get into a fight. Wally would cry. Dick would comfort him. They’d get back together. Then Dick would cry but this time no one was there to comfort him.

\---

“You should tell him,” Barbara said as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

“Babs I can’t,” Dick huffed and sat down on the cold floor of the next rooftop, Barbara joined him.

“Why not? Because it’d ruin your friendship?”

“Well yeah, obviously but it’s more than that. For so long I’ve been comfortable with just this tiny crush that he didn’t have to know about. But that crush just kept growing and now it just  _ hurts _ . I want to tell him to get it off my chest but I know the aftermath will bring more pain than what I’m already feeling.” Dick could feel tears building up again. Before Barbara could say anything, he got up and kept running. Jumping from building to building, it was Robin and Batgirl’s first silent patrol. 

\---

“You sure you can’t hang out tonight?” Dick had Wally on speaker as he buttoned up his dress shirt. 

“Sorry Wally, important gala things.”

“Ugh rich people.”

“Yeah rich people,” Dick started to comb his hair back, “Brittany and you in a fight?” He didn’t mean for that to slip.

“Noooo,” The sixteen-year-old could practically hear his best friend roll his eyes. “She said she already had plans.”

“Ah ok,” He put down the comb. “K I got to go now.” Dick didn’t wait for a response before he hung up. “Stupid stupid stupid. Why did I ask him about her.”

\---

Dick wandered the halls of the gala trying to catch a break from all of Bruce’s acquaintances. When he opened what he thought to be a door to the balcony but what he saw was much worse. His eyes widened and he dropped the glass of cider he was holding.

In front of him, Brittany was making out with Brody Dersling, the son of one of Bruce’s long time co-workers.

“What the FUCK-”

The two broke apart when Brittany’s eyes got equally as wide.

Brody glanced over with a naive smile, “Oh hey Di-”

“Oh crap,” Brittany muttered “Brody can you give us a minute? Dick was just trying to find me so he could help me with math.”

“Sure thing, I’ll be by the buffet,” Brody closed the door behind him. Instantly her smile dropped.

“You can’t tell Wally.” She crossed her arms as a scowl formed on her face.

“You think you’re going to stop me?” Dick’s anger started to rise.

“I can. I’ll tell the world about Wally being the Kid Flash,” Dick’s glare only grew.

“How do you know?”

“Wally told me,” She looked so smug Dick despised it. “He’s a very trusting person.” Brittany stepped closer. “So what happened tonight doesn’t leave this room. Got it?” 

Dick wanted to spit on her shiny high heels but he stopped himself. “Yeah,” He walked away, and even if he already hated her the reasons kept on piling up.

  
  


\---

  
  


He hadn’t been avoiding Wally per se. Dick just stopped coming over to visit, stopped texting him, only hung out with him in a group. They still talked… sometimes. So no Dick wasn’t avoiding him. Wally is his best friend after all. 

“You’re avoiding Wally,” Bruce stated as he sorted through documents with Dick. 

“No, I’m not.” Bruce simply glanced at him, “Ok fine I’m… distancing myself from him.”

“Mhm,” Most people wouldn’t notice but Bruce’s lips twitched up into the smallest smile. They finished sorting through the files after fifteen minutes and both got up. “Talk to him. It doesn’t have to be about your crush. Ask him to teach you to drive.”

“Fine, I guess. WAIT how do you know about it?”

“One you’re not subtle. Two I’m a detective I figure things out and three,” Bruch went to ruffle his hair, “You’re my son I notice these things.

\---

“I can’t believe you’re letting me teach you how to drive,” The two got into the car as the redhead literally started to vibrate. 

“Yeah it’s going to be a disaster,” Dick put on the seatbelt, “heavy on the dis.”

“Please I’m going to be a great teacher.” He only grimaced in response. 

Ok, so Wally was actually a pretty good teacher. He was surprisingly calm throughout the whole thing, giving helpful pointers to where Dick could improve and praised him when he did even the smallest thing right. 

It was nice Dick had to admit, even if it was just driving the obstacle course Wally set up around the front of the manor. He didn’t have to worry about being Robin or being the successor to a billion corporation. Wally wasn’t raving about his girlfriend or talking about an argument they had. Here in this driveway, Dick could be his favorite thing, Wally’s best friend.

Naturally, it became routine for them, Saturday afternoons (even Fridays if neither were busy) they would spend hours in the car. After a while, though Dick would end up parking the car, and the two would just talk about anything until the sunset and Wally had to go back home. It was nice. It was  _ theirs _ . To Dick, it felt like being a kid again, holed up in a pillow fort escaping reality to goof off and let loose. He would end up looking forward to Saturday afternoons.

“Hey Dick,” Wally said as Dick parked the car. “So Brittany wants to make Saturday afternoons like our weekly date.” Wally scratched the back of his head.

“Oh,” Dick turned off the engine. 

“But hey you’re already a pro driver, thanks to me of course,” Wally let out a playful laugh Dick following with a much more forced one. “So you don’t really need the lessons anymore right?”

“Yeah you’re right,” The rest of the afternoon Dick smiled a lot less. He really did treasure those days but now he wished he could have held onto them just a little bit more.

\---

He did get his driver’s license a month later. Proudly showing it off to the Team, as Wally bragged about being the best driving teacher. 

\---

Dick was 18 now and after Wally and Brittany’s thousandth argument and Wally confiding in him Dick barely could pay attention. It was usually the same things now anyway, something petty, or Brittany isn't communicating. 95% of the time it was usually her, even if Dick was biased it’s true. Sometimes it felt like Wally was the only one putting in the effort to fix things. It made more sense to him when he caught her making out with Brad again.

It was the thousandth and first argument when Dick slips. “What if you break up with her? If this is causing so much stress.” He didn’t mean to sound bitter and rude but Dick knew that’s how it came off as.

Wally just gave a small smile as he looked at Dick. “No. Even with all these fights, we get over it. I mean couples fight all the time and besides, she’s good for me.” Wally lets out a defeated sigh. “Thanks for always being there for me though. I can always count on you”

“I love you!” Dick was caught off guard from his own words but could feel the lump in his throat disappear. His heartbeat faster as Wally paused for a second just staring at him, was he glad he didn’t have Connor’s super hearing.

“Thanks, man I love you too.” Wally broke the hug and laughed. “Hey, you’re taller than me now! So not cool. Anyways I think I’m going to go buy her flowers bye, Dick!”

Dick sprawled out onto the floor of his room. “Shit I love him.” It was their thousandth argument and first and his the thousandth first time he cried about the redhead but the first time Dick realized he was in love with his best friend. He was in love with Kid Flash. The red hair and the green eyed guy who never failed to make him laugh. Dick Grayson was in love with Wally West and he couldn’t tell him.

\---

Over the next few months, more and more arguments had been happening between Wally and Brittany. Each time it took more out of Wally, Dick could see it in his eyes. He was working on decrypting files in the batcave when he got a call from Wally.

“We broke up,” Wally’s voice was hoarse and barely a whisper as he continued to sob.

“Come to the batcave.” Wally was there in a minute saying he needed to compose himself first. 

“What happened?”

“It was mutual I guess,” Wally took the glass of water Dick offered him. “Long time coming we’ve just been drifting lately I think. We want different things for our future but it still hurts so much.”

Wally cried into Dick’s shoulder and there was so much Dick wished he could tell Wally but he knew better. Right now he just needed his best friend Dick Grayson. 

They were watching a movie as Wally slowly dozed off, his chest rising up and down, eyes losing. Dick had long forgotten about the TV instead he watched over Wally as he cleaned up. Being with his best friend again after being so busy was nice.

“Maybe I don’t really have to tell you,”  _ Maybe this is enough.  _ Maybe Dick had moved on and he and Wally could just be Dick and Wally again, without his complicated feelings for Wally.

\---

It wasn’t enough. The wound that was the breakup had healed and they were hanging out more over the months. Despite the increasing workload that came with being a team leader Dick found a way. Whether it was late night calls or Wally would hang out at the mountain or cave with him while he did work, they found a way. Dick loved it but he could feel this crush he’d put on the backburner as he had consumed himself with more and more work coming back.

The two were on a drive together. Dick had ‘happened to drive by Wally’s house coming back from a mission.’ That’s what he told him anyway. So he asked Wally if he’d want to drive around, of course, he said yes. Wally kept going through random radio stations after he would get bored of the songs. 

“Hey!” Dick scoffed, “Why’d you change the channel I love that song?!”

“Well, I don't!” Dick tried to be annoyed but he couldn’t help smiling. 

When Dick dropped Wally off back at his house and drove home it hit him. He was still in love with Wally. This time though it was different, Dick knew that. Their friendship was as strong as ever. Wally was over Brittany. Nothing was holding them back. He could finally tell his best friend he’d been in love with him since he was fourteen.

\---

It was June 20, 2016, and Dick Grayson did not get to tell his best friend he has been in love with him since they were kids because his best friend, the love of his life, just died. So he needed space, he took a leave of absence from the team to mourn by myself. 

A week had gone by already and he was still laid there on his apartment couch. Only Bruce, Barbara, and Tim came by to check on him. He just needed time alone.

“Hey, Dick are you home it’s Barry.” He could hear the voice through the door.

“It’s open,” Dick raised his voice from the couch. 

“I thought I should deliver this in person,” Barry handed him an envelope. “We found this in Wally’s house.”

“Thanks.” Dick got up to grab it.

“Before he disappeared he wanted me to tell you he’s sorry,” Barry gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Thanks, Barry.”

“‘Course, I’m here if you need anything.” Barry shut the door afterward knowing Dick needed privacy opening the letter.

  
  
  
  


Hey Dick, 2011

It’s kind of weird writing this to you but I think I should just in case. After that simulation we went through, I needed to write this. Thank you man truly thank you for everything. For being my best friend and being there through the bad and good times. You were always my rock and source of laughter. I love you man. I know this sounds cheesy but you’re like my  _ person _ . We just get each other. 

So I know however I died you’ll find a way to blame yourself. Please don’t if I could have one last wish it’s for you to keep moving on. You’re strong Dick, keeping going for me.

  
  


Your Best Friend

Wally

PS I think I like you.

PPS jk….

PPPS I’m sorry I retired and left. I wish I could always be by your side

PPPPS I think I’m in love with you. You’re from the future though so I’ll probably have confessed by now. During the trip, we were planning when you finally have free time.

PPPPS I knew what you meant that day when you said you loved me. It’s been years but I still think about it. I'm sorry I was a coward to play it off weirdly. Please tell me you didn’t move on already. Oh well, we’ll see in July I guess.

  
  


Dick folded the letter up and put it on his coffee table as tears started to stream down his face. “You’re such an idiot,” Dick told the letter in between his broken sobs. Broken because he has been crying for a week and doesn’t know if he had it in him to keep crying.

He read the line over and over again.

_ Please tell me you didn’t move on already. _

_ Please tell me you didn’t move on already. _

_ Please tell me you didn’t move on already. _

“You idiot how could I ever love someone else?”

He reread the letter again 

_ You’re strong Dick, keeping going for me. _

Dick without thinking got up, grabbed the letter, went to his car, and drove. It was a weird sensation, he was completely present when driving, vigilant as ever but his mind was screaming. He didn’t realize where he was going until he saw the familiar house. Wally’s house. 

As he parked the car his memories replayed in his head. Each one was so vivid like it happened yesterday, not six years ago. 

When they first met. When he revealed his secret identity. Their movie marathons and nights when they’d play video games. After missions when they were too tired to talk so they would just be together in the most comfortable silence. Wally’s graduation and Dick’s. Every birthday party. Every milestone they celebrated together, Dick getting his license. The drives they would take through Wally’s neighborhood blasting music and belting the lyrics. 

When Wally would stay over and fall asleep, Dick quickly followed behind but always made sure the last thing he saw was Wally.

Eight years of memories. Dick replayed every single one because he couldn’t make it a lifetime of memories. Not even ten years, or nine, or eight years and one day. He only could have eight. 

Eventually, he ran out of memories to replay so, with barely any tears left to give the broken hero sat there, staring at that PS note, thinking about what could’ve been.

**Author's Note:**

> got inspired by a friend's edit and drivers license so here you go


End file.
